Ken Burns Teaches Mission Students Lessons from the Dust Bowl

Trixie Davis was just a teenager when the Dust Bowl tore through her small town in rural Texas.

In what appeared as a weather twist of divine proportions, ominous plumes of dust blanketed the sky, obscured the sun and converted entire neighborhoods into uninhabitable disaster zones.

“We knew people in our town who were afraid that it was the end of the world,” she said.

Last week, sitting onstage before a packed auditorium, Trixie told her saga to hundreds of students at Mission High School.

Ken Burns, the renowned documentary filmmaker who used her story in part of his upcoming PBS documentary on the Dust Bowl, also joined her onstage. Together, they led a discussion and presentation for Mission High students on modern lessons from the Dust Bowl.